Base metals prices see upward trend

Base metals prices on all major exchanges showed positive trends today as against the last trading day.

London Metal Exchange's (LME's) three-months prices opened mostly on a positive note today, aluminium contract went up by 1.3%, zinc rose by 2.5%, copper edged up by 1.7%, nickel remained stable and lead increased by 0.3%.

MCX futures prices remained mixed on the last trading day. Nickel was stable at INR 2,475/kg, lead down 0.02% to INR 189/kg, copper was almost stable at INR 690/kg, aluminium up 0.4% at INR 213/kg and zinc remained almost firm at INR 273/kg on the last trading day.

Japan's factory output falls in Nov'22

Japanese factories slashed output in November 2022, dragged down by weak demand for machinery products amid a deteriorating global economic outlook.

Factory output fell by 0.1% in November from the previous month, followed by a revised 3.2% fall in October and 1.7% contraction in September 2022.

US Advance International Trade in Goods

The international trade deficit was $83.3 billion in November, down $15.5 billion from $98.8 billion in October. Exports of goods for November were $168.9 billion, $5.3 billion less than October exports. Imports of goods for November were $252.2 billion, $20.8 billion less than October imports.

US Advance Wholesale Inventories
Wholesale inventories for November, adjusted for seasonal variations and trading day differences, but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $933.6 billion, up 1.0% from October 2022, and were up 21.0% from November 2021.

LME's stock levels remain mixed

Base metals stocks at LME-registered warehouses decreased by up to 1.4% in the last session today. However, copper was up by 0.5% and lead stocks remained firm.

Oil prices down slightly

Brent oil futures was down 0.20% at $84.33 per barrel, while crude oil WTI futures fell 0.50% at $79.6 per barrel at the time of publishing this report.

Dollar index

The dollar index, which gauges the value of the dollar in a basket of six different currencies, hovered around 104.24 at the time of publishing this report, was up marginally by 0.06% against the last session.

The rupee was recorded at 82.86 against the US dollar, almost stable against the previous closing.